[ClayTheScribe]

I'm an atheist and I had someone tell me on the Mental Health board that AA could be beneficial to atheists, so I thought I'd share my questions here too. I just don't see how an AA works through these steps without believing in Him:

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His Will for us and the power to carry that out.

I've been told atheists can substitute "God" for something like "higher self." But, for example, with 5, why do I need to admit my wrongs to my higher self when my higher self knows what I've done better than me--same thing with God for that matter. It's like asking forgiveness from a God who's already forgiven you before you did your wrong. With 6, that's asking myself to remove my own defects? Asking yourself to remove your defects is not giving yourself up to a higher power. And 11, that's so specific to the Christian God, I'd love to hear somebody spin that one. Sorry to be so cynical, but I really don't see AA working for atheists, but I'm open to advice.

And I'm skeptical if I get into AA, they're gonna try to turn me into a Christian, as others have told me in their experiences, and I'm not having that. I'm also kind of weary of support groups because my problems are so much less than others. Case in point, I went to a dual diagnosis meeting (addiction and mental illness) this week and when I was talking about how I was stressed out about graduating college, one of the people there started laughing, which sent me into a tailspin and almost made me drink later that night. And other people in the group seemed hostile toward me as most of these people came from recovery homes and had much worse drinking and mental disorders than me. I know my problems may seem trivial to people who are worse off, but they still matter to me.

And I know how touchy and defensive folks can be about 12-step, so please go easy on me. I'm actually going to try to go to a young people's AA meeting tomorrow, though I am skeptical.

And I'm 5 days sober! That's actually a long time for me.

Thanks,
Clay